I Need a pep talk!

[Crittergetter]

Well, the title says it all! After all my hard work this summer planting food plots, putting up new stands, cutting trails, putting up with dogs, ect... I get a shot at a spike last night at 10 yrds and shoot right over his back. I know what I did wrong. Didn't bend at the waist and didn't pick a spot! That's not the bad part. There was a doe with him and she didn't run off. So I nock another arrow and this time I do everything right, but she didn't. She was already spooked and she dropped at the shot and I hit her high. Just below the back bone and she ran off. I waited a couple hours before looking. Found no blood anywhere. After about an hour of trying to follow her tracks I found my arrow. Bloody arrow but none on the ground. But after the arrow came out I started finding blood. Not dark blood and not very often. Trailed her for about another hour one drop at a time for a couple hundred yrds till she made it off my property. At that point the blood had all but stoped. I don't believe it was a fatal wound but I am totally disgusted with my self. My first deer ever with a bow was a gut shot doe and I didn't pick up a bow again for 15 yrs. I'm not going to give up. I really enjoy making and hunting with my own bows. but I could really use a pep talk.
To make matters worse, my brother in law ( who gut shot a 140" deer last year with his compound and found it) call me this morning and starts talking crap and rubbing it in.
 I've killed dozens and dozens of deer, elk, exotics, and hogs with other weapons. Even killed 6 hogs and 1 whitetail with trad. I know that I can shoot well. it's hard to admit, But for some reason I just simply fall apart when hunting with a trad bow! . but my pride won't let me stop. I'm in for life!

[Orion]

If it was easy, everybody would be doing it.  You know what you did wrong.  Just don't do it next time.  Need to really focus on the spot you want to hit.

It's pretty easy to get flustered at crunch time, to feel rushed and rush the shot.  Here's the mantra I tell myself, "You're either going to get the shot, or you're not.  If you get it, take your time and make it a good one.  If not, so be it."

Keep at it.  It will come around.  Good luck.

[Sam McMichael]

Not to worry! If you shoot trad, you are gonna miss some of them. After all, we do it because it is harder. At that range, I wonder if you remembered to shoot a little low. A deer ducks quite low when he begins his startled rush, and it is easy to forget to take this into consideration during the excitement.

Don't worry about the ribbing from the brother in law. At least you have taken the challenge of trad. Remember, you can do it right and still not get the animal every time. The fact that you are seeing deer close enough to shoot at indicates that your preparation work has not been wasted.

Just keep working, and it will pay off. Good luck!

[deerhunter_w]

I done the same  thing last Saturday.  The first shot was over her back the second grazed her and the third shot I drilled another deer. Im having trouble picking a spot, if theirs nothing that sticks out like a small spot or tuff of hair.

Jeff

[DaveT1963]

What I have taped to several places - including my bow - "The Next 30 Seconds could change your life"  Always a reminder that the preceding 1000 hours really don't dictate what will happen in the next 30 seconds and that can change everything - a life, a marriage, a season...... for good or bad.  It reminds me that some risks are not worth taking and that anything is possible - just stay in the game.

[Homey88]

Hang in there! That is hunting! Things happen,keep at it!

[Roadkill]

We all feel your pain-probably most here have had something similiar happen.

[VA Elite]

dude, I did it enough with a compound over the past 25 years. I lost some deer, killed far more than I lost. I have not killed with trad gear yet, but I have missed. I have not wounded one yet, and I hope I never will, but reality says it will likely happen at some point if I shoot at enough. Even with the best of conditions and shots, it still happens. Get back up in the tree and continue on. There are greater tragedies in life.

[9 Shocks]

Sounds like the doe will live.  Dont beat yourself up man!  Its part of the journey and experience.  I have killed 5 deer with trad gear and I have missed 5.  My composure at the shot is more and more apparent and I feel more confident.  Keep at it!

[joe ashton]

We need to take pride in the quality of our preparation and effort, as that increases the probability of success, but it does not guaranty success. Sometimes the deer do not cooperate.
Hang in there.  

[AZ_Longbow]

25 years and I have never gotten a deer with a bow. I have had 4 shots total.every one clean misses and string jumps. Your doing way better than me. Why do you hunt?  For the kill or for the thrill?

[bear bowman]

I've missed two this season. You are not alone.

[woodchucker]

Aim for the elbow.....  

[reddogge]

Sounds like just a couple of bad decisions, not bending and not picking a spot and shooting at a spooked doe. Not the end of the world, just learn from these mistakes and correct them next time. Most of us have done similar things.

[johnnyk71]

see my thread just below
VVV

[Michael Arnette]

Aim low my friend...The very first deer I ever shot was with a compound, 16 years ago in fact. I aimed too low on a 6 yard shot at a young doe and ended up with a low lung shot...I still remember it like it was yesterday. I found her about a week later nearly a mile from where I had shot her. It got me pretty bad but I have killed over 30 deer with a bow since...25 of those hunting with traditional equipment. So far I've not recovered 4 deer. one hit just like yours with a compound, with trad bows 2 hit shoulder and got 0 penetration, a third hit the meat above the backbone.
There is a really good chance that the doe you shot died quickly and as much of a chance that she will survive just fine depending of the arterial damage. It was one of the other with that shot.
Learn from your mistakes and you will have so much more appreciation for the moment it comes together.

Most importantly!!! Don't let this kill your confidence...you have said you can shoot well: Get a little better. Put yourself in the same situation as the shot you took at your target practice ring and duplicate it with the results you wanted. Aim for 2" behind the elbow on an alert deer, aim just barely low on a calm deer (they can duck too) This is my rule for deer 15-25 yards (this is the yardage for string jumping) anything much outside this and they wont have time to react or will have already sprung back up to flee or not reacted at all.
Regain your confidence because it is everything in instinctive shooting.

Odd how things can go.  The other day when sneak hunting, I saw a small buck, right after I was bending over and tieing my shoe about 25 yards away.  he passed by me about 10 feet.  Behind him on the same trail was an 8 pointer, nothing fancy but big enough.  Certainly not the nontypical monster that I was looking for.  At 15 feet i pulled a total slow motion 'wackadoodle' and jerked the arrow over its back.  the buck ran back a ways, turned and stopped.  It was  longer than most would like to shoot, but I have been practicing very hard to extend my range and doing quite well at my deer targets at longer than normal shots.  This time I focussed hard, drew my bow in my normal one second Hill style tempo and put the arrow through the deer in a perfect low lung and behind the heart position.  it ran hard for about a 80 yards and folded into a skidding stop.  Later when taking the buck home and about two miles from where I shot my deer, the monster non-typical that I had spotted before hunting season crossed the road in front of us in the dark.  With all of the hunting pressure he moved out of the river valley.   Turkey and pheasant hunting with a bow is more fun than chasing these big boys in Iowa anyway.  Every kid with a compound tries to push in on us whenever a big deer comes around and it takes all of the fun out of deer hunting.  Make an adventure out of hunting, too many guarantees spoils the fun.

[Yellow Dog]

Live and learn, it happens. Twenty years ago I missed five different bucks in a week. Bottom line is I didn't pick a spot. I thought I did but at the last split second I broke my concentration to see if they saw me drawing. I was real close and on the ground. Lesson learned, pick a spot then pick a hair and then pick the root of the hair and never take your eye off it until the arrow hits.

[Wile E. Coyote]

Orion nailed it!!!! You have to learn to slow down and do it at your pace, not let the animal dictate it.

 So if your going to get a shot, you will, if not so be it. But your going to get YOUR shot, a shot that you arent rushing a shot you have 100% confidence in making.

 You got this, now get back in the game! Its not easy but its definitely worth it.

[Michael Arnette]

Good advice yello dog! Pavan, My experience has been real spotty on high and low lung shots too...from mine and my buddies I've seen either deer dead within 150ish yards or tracking jobs that never end and deer found healthy afterwords or more often found far far away ...sometimes miles from where they were shot.
My medical background would tell me that these differences depend not so much on general shot placement but the exact path through the bodies traffic system of arteries and veins.